Virgil Beall

Virgil Beall is a scavenger in the Mid West Wasteland in the year 2097. A veteran of the U.S. Army before the War, Virgil is obsessed with conspiracy theories and is prone to paranoia and schizophrenia.

Background
Virgil Beall was born into a dysfunctional family in Kansas City in the year 2018. His father was an abusive alcoholic, while his mother was cruel and unsympathetic to her son's plight. This harsh home environment twisted Beall from an early age, likely resulting in some of the severe disorders he later harbored.

When he reached the age of eighteen Virgil managed to escape from his parents and immediately joined the United States Army, desiring to get as far away from home as possible. He never returned. Due to brewing world tensions the Army needed every man they could get, and shipped Beall to Alaska for training. He completed training and served as a frontline soldier in the Alaskan Oil Fields.

At some point Virgil received a Purple Heart and various other medals for single-handedly detecting and routing a unit of Chinese operatives. Supposedly the team was there to sabotage research and oil facilities. Beall was made a Private, First Class for his actions and was also awarded the aforementioned decorations.

However, after serving just seven months Virgil received a General Discharge from the Army. Apparently he served abhorrently with his fellow soldiers, and tests determined that he had Antisocial Personality Disorder, preventing him from serving. Disowned from the one place where he had taken sanctuary, Beall hitchhiked across the Mid West, eventually settling in the Ozark Mountains, where he could find peace and solitude. He purchased a small house tucked away in the hills and became a hermit.

Over the next several decades Virgil stayed in his house, rarely venturing out except to visit the Military Surplus Store. He also began subscribing to conspiracy theories, buying into speculations about China, the Moon Landings, and of course the U.S. government. His trust in these theories was only strengthened by turbulent world affairs. Sometime in this period Beall also constructed a private fallout shelter, and stocked it with canned foods and weapons. He began truly preparing for the apocalypse.

In 2077 Virgil's fears were affirmed by the nuclear detonations which rocked Earth's surface. He retreated into his bunker and tuned in to his local radio station- which stopped broadcasting mere days after the cataclysm. Virgil waited for years in his cellar, staving off boredom by reading and writing. For over a decade Virgil waited, his supplies dwindling along with his sanity. Beall also became extremely paranoid during this period, garnering a general distrust for other humans.

In 2090 Virgil's stocks of food were extremely depleted, and the man finally decided to venture out into the surface. He emerged into a changed world. Shocked by the carnage and ashes of war all around him, he nevertheless adapted to the savage ways of the Wasteland. Beall quickly became a scavenger, raiding the shells of Pre-War homes for food and water. He kept away from the few individuals he saw, preferring to stay out of combat. Virgil did, however, hone his sharpshooting by hunting wild animals.

By 2097 Beall had turned to outright thievery to support himself, robbing caravans and passersby for caps, water and food along the I-49. At some point he met the ghoul and contractor Ulysses Wolf, and despite initial distrust became his accomplice, escorting him along his trip. After agreeing on a deal and collecting Virgil's belongings(he had lived out of his bunker), the pair journeyed along the I-49, eventually reaching Ghoul Springs and stopping there to rest, with the eventual goal of reaching New Kansas City.